Calif. Senate Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Sends Bill To Governor

The California Senate today voted to approve the toughest state-level net neutrality bill in the US, one day after the California Assembly took the same action.

With both legislative houses having approved the bill, California Governor Jerry Brown has until September 30 to sign it into law.

The final vote was 27-12, with all 26 Democratic senators and Republican Senator Ling Ling Chang voting in favor. All 12 no votes came from Republican senators. In the Assembly yesterday, six Republicans joined 55 Democrats to pass the bill in a 61-18 vote.

I believe that this bill is very necessary and potential landmark decision when it comes to the future of technology and innovation. The net neutrality bill bans Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) from blocking and throttling websites or online services who don’t pay extra fees to quicken their internet traffic. In other words the proposed bill prohibits ISP’s such as Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast from censoring what we get to see on the internet by slowing or sometimes stopping these websites down. The argument for making this bill is simply that these ISP’s are using their power to privatize the internet for their financial gain. Even the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has been actively dealing with this issue since 2005. The FCC has recently repealed the net neutrality rules that had been set in place during the Obama administration, which now give ISP’s the ability to further wield control over how people use the internet. Yet, in the state of California there is some hope that they can make new stronger net neutrality rules that will hopefully someday influence a change in other states as well.
One of the biggest issues is with absence of net neutrality is the ability for ISP’s to promote their products and services while slowing down of other websites and online services that are their competitors. For example Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T are not only internet service providers but are also TV providers/ entertainment providers, they may slow down competitor websites like Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube in order for people to by their TV packages. And according to research published just this week from Bloomberg and conducted by Northeastern University Verizon, AT&T and other ISP’s are actually streaming Netflix and YouTube at a fraction of the possible speed.
Yet, what is probably the most innerving is the effect of what having no net neutrality will have on innovation. Internet companies that are already large may actually be able to cut a deal with ISP’s to quicken there internet speeds, yet companies who are small and growing may be unable to pay an exorbitant fee to all the different ISP’s effectively hurting their future prospects. What ends up happening is that new app developers are discouraged to even create new apps which really hurts the future of innovation.
All in all, the negatives of having no net neutrality prove to have far reaching effects not just in the present but potentially in the future as well. Which makes this potential net-neutrality law give a sense of hope that proper rules and regulations can be applied to prevent the ISP’s from acting for their monopolistic gain.

Net Neutrality is a concept implemented and supported heavily by the Obama administration in 2015. During this administration, a law was passed prohibiting the blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of internet services. Under the current administration these protections are repealed as of April 23, 2018. Internet service companies can now slow transmission of certain data, discriminate against what users can and cannot see, and require internet users to pay premiums for higher speeds. This was very advantageous for the internet providers such as Comcast and ATT&T; companies like these can now profit even further on a services they were already providing. Unfortunately this bill is not advantageous for consumers as many now will face restrictions and increased costs on a services that in this day in age are borderline essential to function effectively in society.

The strong support for this bill is a comforting to see in government. The repeal of net neutrality under the current administration demonstrated that the government was not keeping the people it governs in mind and instead was succumbing to big business money and lobbyist. Therefore, to see that California’s state government is taking a stand against the federal government in order to protect the interests of its people should be applauded. As said in the article above, this move will hopefully set a standard and precedent for other states. Provided the Governor of California does sign off on the law, a domino effect could be set in motion to increase the number of states participating in this movement. Additionally, this action taken by the California Senate acts as a reassurance to citizens that government does have the ability to put the people’s needs ahead of big business. Many internet providers sunk large sums of money into lobbying against California and the people’s’ interests still prevailed. Over all, this action bodes well for consumers and restores faith in the government to protect the interest of its people.

It is safe to say that the future of technology is constantly growing. In my opinion, if the government had gotten rid of net neutrality in the past, the way we use our technology and all the convenient services it has to offer would see a complete change. This would be so because if people now had to pay a service fee for being able to use applications that are currently free such as Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, they would not use them as much anymore. It would add onto another unnecessary expense for the American people and would be considered more of a luxury to obtain. This potential outcome would not sit well with most of the American population because that can be comparable to giving a baby candy and then taking it away from them soon after. As someone who is already too accustomed to having open internet, I would be angered if I found out I had to pay for such applications. This can also create customer dissatisfaction and deter customer loyalty from these telecom companies.

I am for California’s decision to attempt to set a strong precedent that is in favor of net neutrality. The state is trying to place a bigger emphasis on its people instead of businesses. The businesses who are heavily lobbying to get rid of net neutrality are only looking to make a profit out of it, which is unfair. I believe that the people of our country will make the right decision regarding matters to continue to have our net neutrality laws. Removal of these laws are mere attempts for businesses to scheme the people of the United States.

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